A Sharks Love Bite
by kellyQ
Summary: Takes place after episode 12! Shark and Yuma have a late night chat!


A Sharks Love Bite

By Kellyq

Yuma lay in his hammock and looked at the card that Ryoga allowed him to have after their duel against Rikuo and Kaio. That duel was intense, but Yuma was glad that he found out the real truth behind Ryoga's past. When Yuma read that Ryoga was disqualified for 'looking at his opponent card', Yuma didn't want to believe that Ryoga was that type of person to even do, or think of such a thing.

**_Yuma's hands danced around the keyboard, but all he got was error messages as he looked at the holographic image of a computer window. Yuma grumbled out of frustration. Kotori suddenly walked up and noticed that Yuma was trying to get some information. _**

**_"What are you doing?" She asked, curiosity laced her voice. _**

**_"Looking something up about dueling," Yuma grumbled. _**

**_Kotori nodded her head and gently nudged him out of the way. She pressed a few buttons and a bunch of information about dueling came up. Yuma beamed, and started to look the info over until he came across the article about Ryoga being disqualified for stealing a card. Yuma didn't believe that one bit and the look on Ryoga's face got Yuma to think that there was more to the blue-haired teen than meets the eye. _**

**_"It's about Shark," Kotori whispered, referring to Ryoga's nickname. She glanced at Yuma to see that he had a determined expression on his face. Yuma got up turned and walked out. "Yuma where are you going?" Kotori called out following her friend out of the classroom._**

**_The green-haired girl sighed and continued to follow Yuma out of the school. The two stopped when Giniji came running up with fear in his eyes. _**

**_"Help! Shark's going to commit card robbery!" _**

**_"Where?" Yuma asked anxiously. _**

**_"At the museum!"_**

**_Yuma nodded his head and took off running, but he stopped when Kotori called out for him not to worry about Ryoga. _**

**_Yuma turned his head and cringed. "What comrade would I be if I let him do this? Besides, it's my fault that he's in this mess." _**

**_With no other words, Yuma took off running again; when he got there, Ryoga_**, **_Rikuo and Kaio_** **_were about to walk into the museum. _**

Yuma didn't regret the duel at all, and he was stoked that Ryoga decided to tag teamed with him. The first part of the duel was intense and he lost a lot of life points, but Yuma didn't care all too much about his life points, as long as he made sure that Ryoga didn't get hurt.

The key around Yuma's neck glowed and Astral appeared. _"You've been staring at that card … what's so special about it?" _

A soft smile made its way to Yuma's lips. "Shark gave it to me. Remember?"

Astral nodded his head. _"The one you tagged teamed with. You've also been muttering his name in your sleep. Is he hurting you?" _

Yuma blushed out of embarrassment. "No! Why would you think that?"

Astral closed his eyes. _"As long as that duelest doesn't hurt you, I'm fine with you two being friends."_

Yuma's face lit up and he gasped with joy as he propped himself onto his elbows. "You mean that?"

_"Yes."_

Yuma smiled and laid back down and continued to stare at the card. Astral opened his eyes and glanced at his 'protector', before he decided to go back into the key as it glistened. Yuma shook his head as he drifted back to the duel he tagged teamed with Ryoga. Yuma was still sore from averting all the damage away from Ryoga, so he wouldn't have to get hurt.

_**Yuma landed on the ground with a dull thump. He slowly sat up when he noticed that Kaio was going to use his dragon card on Ryoga. A growl came from the back of Yuma's throat. **_

_**"I won't let you! I activate Kbou Ou Hope's special ability! By sending Overlay Unit to the graveyard, all the damage will be at me!" Yuma yelped when he was flung back and he landed on the cement again. A holographic image of numbers appeared to show that Yuma's life points went down from 1900 to 1400.**_

**_"Will you stop protecting me?" Ryoga insisted, after watching Yuma get knocked around like a rag doll. He felt helpless watching Yuma get hurt and that was the last thing he wanted to see. "I don't need it." _**

_**Yuma growled and managed to stand. "It's not that you need it! You're my comrade, and I'm not going to let you get hurt!" **_

Yuma sighed. _I hope that our tag duel helped Shark realize that he didn't really lose anything after our fist duel and that he gained more ... considering That I don't like losing either! _

_**Yuma glanced at Ryoga to see that he looked uncomfortable after Kaio shared the story that Ryoga got to have a peek at his opponents cards before the match.**_

**_Ryoga closed his eyes. "I ... I ... I was afraid of losing," he murmured. _**

_**By this point Kaio and Rikuo were laughing. Ryoga knew better, but that was how he felt. **_

_**"Stop laughing at him!" Yuma bellowed. Everyone was staring at him, and Rikuo had stopped laughing. "People like you make me sick! Shark is the best duelest around! Sure he did something that he shouldn't have, but that doesn't make him a bad person!" Yuma snapped, emphasizing how he felt about Kaio and Rikuo. **_

_I wonder if Shark has cleared his name? _Yuma thought, coming out of his memory. _It won't hurt to ask. _Yuma sat up, shifted so that he could hop out of the hammock. Once he had hopped out, he turned toward his father's wooden chest where his D-Gazer sat. He grabbed when Yuma realized that he didn't have Ryoga's number. Yuma groaned. _I'm going to have to call Kotori, _he thought, placing the device over his earlobe and the glass over his eye. Yuma waited for a moment, a holographic computer screen appeared, and a sleepy face of Kotori greeted him.

_**"Why are you calling me at this late hour?"**_ she grumbled.

Yuma scratched the back of his head nervously. "Can you help me find Sharks number?"

Kotori looked a little more alert and she sat up. **_"Why? I'm sure he's just fine."_**

A nervous chuckle made its way to Yuma's lips. "I want to ask him if he's not hanging around Kaio and Rikuo yet, and see how he is doing. We are _comrades_ after all!" Yuma said, emphasizing their relationship with pride.

Kotori sighed.**_ "Fine. I'll see what I can come up with." _**With that, the holographic computer screen was gone.

Yuma grinned and drummed his fingertips against his knee. After a few moments, he began to get nervous and a sudden feeling started to come over Yuma. The spiky haired teen shook his head, trying shake the feeling he was starting feel in his heart. Yuma was so deep in thought that he failed to realize that Kotori was trying to get attention.

**_"Yuma!"_** Kotori called out.

Yuma blinked and chuckled when he realized that Kotori had called him back. "Sorry. But do you have his number?"

"**_Yes," _**Kotori mumbled, holding a computer window of the information that Yuma wanted.

"Great! Thanks!" Yuma cheered, memorizing the information that he needed.

Kotori yawned and the holographic computer window closed. Yuma sat there for a second, wondering if he should really call Ryoga. The more he thought about, the more he grew nervous._ I never feel this way when it comes to Shark, _Yuma thought. He shook his head again, took the D-Gazer off his earlobe and brought it in front of him so that he could add Ryoga to his contact list. After that was done, Yuma put the D-Gazer back around his earlobe and the eyepiece over his eye, his device beeped. A second later a holographic computer window appeared and Ryoga didn't look amused.

**_"You better have a good reason for calling me at 2 in the morning,"_** Ryoga growled.

Yuma chuckled nervously and continued to stare at Ryoga. He didn't even realize that he was blushing. "Can't a comrade check up on another comrade?"

Ryoga looked away. He too, was having a hard time figuring out what he was feeling when it came to Yuma.**_ "I'm not your comrade - and you're blushing ..."_** The comment caught Yuma off guard, and he looked surprised. Ryoga had to admit that it was cute. **_"But really ... why did you call?"_** Ryoga asked, finally making eye contact.

Yuma's expression changed completely. "I wanted to know if you stopped hanging around with Kaio and Rikuo yet?" Yuma immediately regretted bringing that incident up when Ryoga lowered his gaze. Yuma looked away too. "I'm sorry that I caused you to think that you lost something ..."

_**"I've told you not to concern yourself with me. What happened has happened,"**_ Ryoga pointed out, looking a little irritated.

Depression flashed across Yuma's face. The key around his neck glowed and Astral appeared, giving Ryoga a glare. "Does that mean that you're not coming back to school, Shark?" Yuma asked, feeling a knot in his chest.

_**"That's no reason to go back there," **_Ryoga said quietly looking away,**_ "there's nothing there for me." _**

Yuma almost fell over at the statement. "How can you say that? _You've got me_ - and we go to the same school!" He emphasized that they had each other.

**_"I don't understand why you're so fixed on wanting to be my friend? I broke your key, and humiliated you!" _**Ryoga explained.

"That's true that you broke my key, but I humiliated you more than you did me," Yuma pointed out.

Ryoga narrowed his eyes. **_"Don't lie to me." _**Yuma flinched in shock. **_"I know that you were upset about what I did!" _**

Out of instincts, Yuma clutched the key and looked down. "The key did belong to my dad before he died."

Ryoga nodded his head. Now he felt even worse about breaking the key and humiliating Yuma right in front of his friends.

**_"I should apologize for what I did ..." _**Ryoga sighed.

Yuma blinked and looked at Ryoga and then smiled. He was touched that Ryoga would even go that far with apologizing. "I knew that you would understand – and you said that you didn't want to be comrades," Yuma teased lightly.

Ryoga rolled his eyes, but he smiled nonetheless. **_"I'm not coming back to school, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to run into each other and duel …" _**

Yuma sighed and looked down. "It's just … it's just that it's lonely at school without you," he admitted, "but if that's how you feel, I need to respect that."

Ryoga's eyes widened, before he scuffed lightly. **_"Idiot … but thanks … I guess." _**

Yuma smiled. "Sure. I do care about you … I didn't like that you hung out with Kaio and Rikuo because you have more pride than that!"

Ryoga stared at Yuma for a moment with shock, before a smile made it's way to Ryoga's lips. _**"I guess you can say that I'm not listening to them anymore ... and thanks for the help that night." **_

Yuma smiled brightly. "You're welcome! That duel was fun! And I wouldn't mind doing it again!" Ryoga stared at Yuma, wondering if the duel had done some damge when he was being knocked around like a beanbag. "What? I'm being serious here! You could've gotten hurt!"

Ryoga rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but feel comfortable. _**"I should get back to bed. We should duel again in the near future - just don't lose, okay?" **_

Yuma smiled again. "That's a promise!" he vowed.

_**"Good night, Yuma," **_Ryoga said in a gentle voice.

Yuma nodded his head. "Good night, Shark," he said softly.

Astral watched Yuma take the D-Gazer off his ear after the holographic image of the computer window closed, and placed it back on the trunk. Yuma stretched and climbed back on the hammock. _Humans are so weird_, Astral thought, watching his 'guardian' fall into a peaceful sleep.

The End


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